Event tagline removed after media lashing

The Information Department had initially christened Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s phone-in programme on Saturday as ‘Dil ki baat’. But it was removed in the wake of an uproar in the social media.

A poster had been posted on the chief minister’s Facebook wall on Friday announcing the phone-in programme. The poster had a photograph of Siddaramaiah, the phone numbers that could be dialled to speak to the chief minister in the ‘Dil ki baat’ programme. Soon, the post started trending with comments that it looked like a straight lift from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Mann ki baat’ radio programme. The objection was also for naming the programme in Hindi.

“Please remove dil ki baat and add any Kannada word which suits your programme,” a post said. As more comments started pouring in, the ‘Dil ki baat’ tagline was removed.

‘Dil ki baat’ is not new to Siddaramaiah. He had addressed farmers through the radio last year in a programme with a similar tagline. Siddaramaiah spoke “his heart out” through the ‘Dil ki baat’ programme, telling peasants he too was the  son of a farmer and he empathised with them.